Gene editing can prevent AIDS from taking a foothold
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The research began by asking whether certain promiscuous gay men were able to have sex with AIDS carriers without getting the disease themselves.
The AIDS virus, like other disease carriers, needs a foothold in the body in order to invade cell and do its destructive work. A certain gene pattern, carried by the aforementioned gay men, made this foothold possible.
By removing that gene pattern, scientists were able to run successful experiments on mice. When they were injected with HIV they did not get the disease.
Even people who already have AIDS may be helped. By injecting cells with the new gene pattern into the body, they may be able to overwhelm the existing AIDS-carrying cells and reduce the impacts of the disease.
Further research will, of course, be necessary but this is a very promising field of inquiry.
